Harmon Museum

One of the many fascinating presentations made by Old Orchard Beach Town Historian, Dan Blaney, is of a vintage 8 mm "Hazzard Film," which gives a look at the 1930's lifestyle of some of Old Orchard Beach's rich and famous. The film includes stunning views of the "Hazzard Mansion" on East Grand Avenue, where shoe manufacturer Robert Hazzard came to relax from his successful shoe business in Gardiner, Maine. Hazzard's Old Orchard waterfront mansion was designed by famed architect John Calvin Stevens in the 1920s. (Read more about the Hazzard Mansion and see photos featured in Portland Monthly Magazine's winter guide.)

Hazzard was widely known for his sponsorship of Harry Jones, pilot/operator of the Jones Flying School, located on the site of today's Friendship Motel. During the 1930's, Jones gave rides and taught people to fly in his signature green and yellow airplane with "Hazzard Shoe Company" advertising on the underside of the wings. Harry Jones' Flying School lasted until his hangar was destroyed by the Great Hurricane of September, 1938.The film also features rare footage of American icons Charles and Anne Lindbergh arriving at low tide on Grand Beach in their airplane.